US Auto Industry - No to Detroit
What's good for General Motors is not, in fact, necessarily good for America. The assertion that their interests are one in the same, uttered 55 years ago by a company executive, reflected a time when U.S. automakers' dominance was in its heyday. Today, a taxpayer-funded bailout might be good for General Motors — or Ford or Chrysler — but it would not be good for America.Detroit's trouble isn't a temporary economic downturn. It's a business model that's unsustainable.
Using taxpayer money to prop up a business model that's not viable is like treating an abscessed tooth by giving the patient more potent painkillers. That may get you through the night, but the only real solution is to go in and clean out the mess. That's what bankruptcy does. It doesn't mean the company operating in bankruptcy — as Circuit City is currently doing, and as airlines and others have done before — goes out of business. Rather, it provides breathing room and an opportunity to clean out the mess that businesses have made through untenable cost structures, inefficient organizations and unappealing products. It's a back-to-boot-camp way to get lean and strong. If a lifeline needs to be thrown using public money, it should be in forms that are appropriate for government: transitional help for laid-off workers and training for new jobs.
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